Semiconductor nanowires as an approach towards electronic and photonic devices

Semiconductor nanowires have emerged as credible candidates for the development of the semiconductor roadmap by which Moore’s law may be extended beyond the 20 nm dimension. This technology is based on self-assembly or bottom-up growth, leading to local epitaxial nucleation of the semiconductor crystal and the controlled growth of a one-dimensional crystal. In this talk I will describe the present understanding of how semiconductor nanowires are formed with dimensions on the scale of 10 nm and with control of the internal structure, such as of axial and radial heterostructures, down to the atomic level. I will concentrate on III–V nanowires, which we have shown may be formed also on silicon substrates, and will describe some of the quantum devices that have been realized in this type of materials, including single-electron transistors and transport via single and coupled quantum dots. I will then present our most recent progress in the realization of high-performance electronic devices, processed as arrays of wrap-gated transistors, in an ideal co-axial geometry and will also describe possible applications of vertical nanowires for photonics applications. This research was supported by grants from the Swedish Research Council (VR), the Swedish Foundation for Strategic research (SSF), the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation (KAW) and from the EU-project NODE 015783.